Inaugural Sustainability Chat on OpenEyeWorld a Success

Next SustyChat on Sustainability Reporting Best Practices May 31 – June 2

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 2:00pm

CONTENT: Press Release

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) May 18, 2011 - For three days in the first week of May, more than 20 sustainability experts from 9 countries discussed “The Future of Stakeholder Engagement” in the inaugural Sustainability Chat, a monthly virtual asynchronous forum for in-depth dialogue on controversial and emerging corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. The discussion resulted in more than 70 comments on OpenEyeWorld, the online platform for sustainability expert engagement where Sustainability Chats take place.

"This first Sustainability Chat on OpenEyeWorld brought together a diverse group of practitioners – all clearly experts – from around the world," said Judy Kuszewski, a longtime sustainability expert who has worked with Ceres and the Global Reporting Initiative. "The format sparked a wide variety of perspectives on complex issues and practical sustainability dilemmas. The OpenEyeWorld platform marks a break from traditional modes of engagement: It's fast, it's focused, and I believe it bodes well for the future of the format."

To view the full dialogue (in three discussion streams), visit: http://www.openeyeworld.net/

The primary takeaway is that “old fashioned” in-person stakeholder engagement practices (“meetings, briefings, regular publications, direct outreach”) will continue to play a key role going forward, and that “newer tools can help you do the old-fashioned stuff more intelligently and more effectively.” Discussion amongst the experts identified several specific tools:

Stakeholder360, a stakeholder network analysis methodology;
Nexalogy and Meaning Mine, social media monitoring tools that help identify key stakeholders and hot issues; and
Stakeware, cloud-based stakeholder engagement management software.

The next Sustainability Chat, focused on “Sustainability Reporting Best Practices” will take place Tuesday, May 31 through Thursday, June 2. OpenEyeWorld Advisor Bill Baue will curate the dialogue, which will feature three discussion streams initiated and facilitated by the following Guest Experts: